Don’t Let Your Engagement Ring Slip Away
It’s the ring of your dreams. It perfectly suits your style and personality, with all the sparkle you’ve always wanted. Except it doesn’t fit.
If your ring is at risk of falling off during everyday activities, or if it’s loose enough that you can wear it over a bandage or glove, it’s simply too big. A ring that fits correctly should be snug, so that it requires gentle twisting or wiggling to remove.
An ill-fitting ring is not just an uncomfortable annoyance, it’s a liability. If your ring is slipping on your hand, you could easily lose that gorgeous, sentimental piece of jewelry forever. To prevent losing your ring, resizing is the obvious choice in many cases, but it’s not the only option. Read on to learn about ring resizing and other methods of achieving a perfect fit. When you decide on the option that’s right for you, we can help at Jewel-Craft.
Ring Resizing
An engagement ring is composed of a ring head and ring shank. The shank refers to the ring’s metal band. Ring resizing is the process during which a jeweler changes the size of your ring by adding to or cutting away pieces of the shank. To make it smaller, they remove a portion of the metal band, and then join the two ends back together to create a circle that’s slightly smaller than it was before. To make a ring larger, your jeweler will add more metal to the length of your ring shank to create a larger circle.
Resizing may be a good option if a ring size is significantly off. While it works well for some metals, like gold, platinum and silver, it may not be appropriate for rings made of other materials like tungsten, titanium or stainless steel. If a ring size is just slightly off, or if resizing is not possible, it may be useful to try one of the following ring-fitting methods.
Ring Guards
Ring guards are affordable plastic or silicone guards that you can find at your local jewelry store. A ring guard is a short, curved tube that is slit open along the inside of the curve. The shape of the ring guard snugly fits around the curve of the bottom of your ring shank, decreasing the space between the shank and your finger to create a tighter fit. Though some people find them uncomfortable or lose them easily, ring guards can be an affordable, quick solution.
Ring Beads
Sizing beads may be the perfect way to reduce the size of your loose ring. Beads shaped from precious metals are semi-permanently added to the inside of the shank to decrease the ring’s inner circumference. Sizing beads prevent the ring from slipping or turning and result in a snugger fit. Perhaps the best part is that they can be added or removed by a jeweler with no visible impact to the ring.
Hinged Shank
For people with large knuckles, finding a comfortably fitting ring can be difficult. In this situation, a hinged ring shank allows the ring to be opened up and closed around the part of the finger above the knuckle. That way, there’s no painful sliding of a small ring over the knuckle, or risk of losing a too-large ring. Rings can be modified by skilled jewelers, like the ones at Jewel-Craft, to include a carefully crafted hinged shank.
Companion Ring
One great way to keep a loose ring secure is to wear a second, tighter band beneath it. Many people choose to commemorate their marriage with an engagement ring and wedding band, so this could be an obvious choice for securing your engagement ring. Jewelers can even join the set together to prevent movement of the engagement ring, while simultaneously achieving a tighter fit. Not only do your rings fit well, but it creates a pleasing stacked look.
Ask The Experts at Jewel-Craft
Not sure what option will work best for you? Tell us about your unique needs, show us the ring and we can help you decide. Our skilled craftsman and artisans can help you with a simple fix like selecting a ring guard or adding sizing beads, or a more permanent or complex solution like resizing, a hinged shank or joining a wedding ring set. Want to be able to shake hands, complete chores, exercise and more without worrying about your ring? With so many options and an expert team at your disposal, you’ll have the perfect fit in no time.
